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Lay gone Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/020205/80/crlya.htmlhttp://uk.news.yahoo.com/020205/80/crlya.html
Tuesday February 5, 02:52 AM
Lay's whereabouts a
mystery
By Kevin Drawbaugh
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - A
congressional
committee trying to
serve a subpoena
on former Enron
Chairman Kenneth
Lay has said his
personal attorney
does not know where Lay is and
could not accept the subpoena.
"We made contact with Mr. Lay's
attorney this afternoon ... He tells us
he does not know of Lay's
whereabouts, which we find quite
puzzling to say the least," said Peggy
Peterson, spokeswoman for the
House of Representatives Financial
Services Committee.
Earl Silbert, Lay's attorney, was unavailable for comment. A
woman answering the phone at his home said he was ill.
Lay resigned from the board of the fallen energy trading giant
on Monday as two congressional committees vowed to force
him to come before them to testify on Enron's collapse.
He had been scheduled to appear before a House Financial
Services subcommittee to talk about Enron's downfall, but he
backed out over the weekend.
The House committee had hoped to subpoena him on
Monday to compel him to appear on Tuesday, Peterson said.
But upon contacting Silbert, she said, "He told us he doesn't
know where he (Lay) is and so could not accept the
subpoena ... This is a bizarre situation."
She said, "We're going to keep talking to the attorney."
Lay had also been scheduled to appear before a Senate
committee on Monday, but cancelled that date, as well.
Lay resigned as chairman and chief executive of
Houston-based Enron on January 23. On Monday, he issued
a statement saying he was also stepping down from the
board.
"I want to see Enron survive and successfully emerge from
reorganisation," he said in the statement. "Due to the multiple
inquiries and investigations, some of which are focused on me
personally, I believe that my involvement has become a
distraction to achieving this goal."
His testimony to Senate and House panels had been
expected to be a highlight of four days of hearings into the
crumbling of the one-time Wall Street darling, the largest
company to file for bankruptcy in U.S. history. But Lay
cancelled, with his lawyer citing a "prosecutorial" atmosphere.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings, a
South Carolina Democrat, said the committee would meet on
Tuesday to issue a subpoena to make Lay testify on February
12.
However, even if he appears, Lay can invoke his right not to
testify against himself, committee members said.
With a criminal inquiry into Enron's demise under way at the
Justice Department and fresh revelations emerging daily of
wildly irregular practices at the company, an increasing
number of witnesses were refusing to testify before Congress.
Ousted Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and
former Enron executive Michael Kopper were expected to
appear before a House Energy and Commerce Committee
panel on Thursday, but to invoke their right not to testify
against themselves.
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